Tuesday marks 12 years since a five-year-old girl seemingly vanished from her Regina home.
Tamra Keepness was last seen at her home on the 1800 block of Ottawa Street on July 5th 2004 and every year on the anniversary of her disappearance police remind the public they continue to seek out tips and leads.
READ MORE: Tamra Keepness remembered 11 years after disappearance
Hundreds of searches have been conducted over the years including a search of 21 wells on the Muscowpetung Saulteaux First Nation in November of 2014, after a sketch surfaced online claiming to show the location of Keepness. Police said the investigation found no evidence of the girl.
Also in 2014 which marked the 10-year anniversary of her disappearance, Regina Police doubled the reward for information in the case to $50,000.
The 12th annual Tamra Keepness BBQ was held at the Core Community Park Tuesday afternoon. It was hosted by family, members of the Regina Police Service and Regina Treaty/Status Indian Services (RT/SIS).
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“I remember that she was brave, and that she was smart, really smart,” Summer Fable, Tamra’s older sister, recalled.
Fable said her little sister’s disappearance had a “dramatic impact” on her life. However, seeing dozens of people come out to honour her sister lifted Fable’s spirits.
The anniversary is an important day for the Regina Police Service (RPS) as well. Acting Chief Dean Rae said they get involved because it’s important to show the community that the service is committed to finding out what happened to Tamra.
“As investigators, we always maintain that hope that something will come forward and help us. We can’t dictate when that hope will happen,” he explained.
Rae was involved in the early days of the investigation as well.
He said the RPS usually receives an influx of tips shortly after the BBQ. He said many tips don’t pan out, but the information is still important to receive.
“We believe there are people in the community that have information relevant to the file that can help the investigation move forward,” Rae said.
In the meantime, Fable holds onto hope that someday her sister will be found.
“I know she’s not gone, and I pray that she’ll come home someday,” Fable said.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Erica Beauden, urban services manager with RT/SIS said while Tamra’s disappearance is tragic there are some positives that can be gathered from the negative situation.
“What we have found is so many best practices in how to work together, how to warn children, how to work with parents, how to work with communities, in keeping our little ones safe,” she explained.
Beauden said that her life was changed 12 years ago, and some innocence was lost with Tamra. However, she said the effort to find the little girl instilled some faith in her.
“A faith in a humanity that does not see colour, that did not see socio-economic status, that did not see anything except bringing a little girl home,” Beauden said.
According to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is set to begin later this summer. He said lessons like this from the search for Tamra can extend past Regina.
“People have responded, they have taken measures to try to ensure that this kind of tragedy doesn’t keep happening, and those lessons will be very important to be told at the national inquiry,” he explained.
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